Chrysler Timeline of Events

Associated Press
Timeline of Recent Chrysler Events
By The Associated Press 04.05.07, 6:00 PM ET

Chrysler's recent history:

Nov. 2, 1978: Lee Iacocca hired as president and CEO of Chrysler Corp.

1978: Chrysler loses $205 million.

Sept. 20, 1979: Chairman John J. Riccardo resigns; Iacocca elected chairman.

Jan. 7, 1980: President Carter signs Chrysler Corp. Loan Guarantee Act, which provides Chrysler with $1.5 billion in loan guarantees.

July 1980: Iacocca begins appearing in Chrysler's television advertisements.

1981: Chrysler reports record losses of $1.7 billion, cuts inventories by $1 billion, and reduces white-collar staff by 50 percent. Production begins on K-cars, Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant.

1982: Iacocca releases his autobiography and it becomes a best-seller.

August 1983: Chrysler pays off loan seven years early.

November 1983: Production begins on minivans Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager.

1984: Chrysler earns a then-record $2.4 billion.

1985: Chrysler buys Gulfstream Aerospace for $637 million and begins joint venture, Diamond Star Motors, with Mitsubishi (other-otc: MSBHY.PK - news - people ) to build small cars in U.S.

1987: Chrysler reorganizes as a holding company with four divisions: Chrysler Motors, Chrysler Financial, Chrysler Technologies, and Gulfstream Aerospace. Holding company's headquarters move from Highland Park, Mich., to New York City. Executives approve acquisition of Renault (other-otc: RNSDF.PK - news - people )'s 46 percent in American Motors Corp., makers of Jeep and Eagle vehicles, for $800 million. Chrysler introduces unprecedented seven-year/70,000-mile powertrain warranty and seven-year/100,000-mile outer body rust-protection warranty.

1989: Iacocca implements $1 billion cost-cutting program. Begins joint venture with Steyr-Daimler-Puch of Austria to produce minivans for Europe.

1990: Kirk Kerkorian acquires 9.8 percent of Chrysler to become the company's largest single shareholder.

October 1991: 35 million new shares are issued at $10 per share. Chrysler sells its 50 percent stake in Diamond Star Motors.

Feb. 16, 1992: Robert J. Eaton becomes vice chairman and chief operating officer.

1992: Jefferson North Assembly Plant, a $1.6 billion investment in Detroit, is ready to begin production of Jeep Grand Cherokees.

Jan. 1, 1993: Iacocca becomes chairman of executive committee. Eaton becomes CEO and chairman of Chrysler.

1994: Plans are under way to more then double Chrysler's export of right-hand-drive Jeep Cherokees to Japan. The company earns record yearlong profits of $3.71 billion. Fourth quarter earnings are a record $1.17 billion.

April 1995: Kerkorian launches an unsuccessful $23 billion hostile takeover bid for Chrysler.

November 1995: FMR Corp.'s Fidelity Investments announces that it owns 55.1 million Chrysler shares, surpassing Kerkorian as Chrysler's largest investor.

Feb. 5, 1996: Chrysler and Kerkorian reach a five-year agreement in which Kerkorian agrees not to attempt another takeover or attempt to increase his stake. In exchange, Kerkorian is granted a seat on the board.

1996: Annual sales are the company's best ever.

Dec. 5, 1997: Thomas Stallkamp appointed as Chrysler president.

Jan. 12, 1998: Juergen Schrempp, chairman of Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler-Benz, suggests merger to Eaton while in Detroit for 1998 North American International Auto Show.

May 7, 1998: Merger announced. New company to be called DaimlerChrysler AG (nyse: DCX - news - people ).

Nov. 17, 1998: DaimlerChrysler stock begins trading on Frankfurt and New York stock exchanges under symbol DCX.

1999: Anticipated economies of scale following the merger prompt the new firm to predict $1.4 billion in savings during the year and a total of $3 billion in savings by the year 2004. For its first full-year of operations, DaimlerChrysler posts a 14 percent increase in revenues, to $151 billion; a 16 percent increase in net income, to $6.3 billion; and a 20 percent increase in operating profit, to $10.4 billion.

Sept. 24, 1999: DaimlerChrysler replaces Chrysler president Stallkamp with Jim Holden.

Nov. 3, 1999: Chrysler announces it will discontinue 73-year-old Plymouth brand after the 2001 model year.

Dec. 28, 1999: DaimlerChrysler reports record revenues of about $149 billion in 1999, an increase of 12 percent from 1998.

Jan. 11, 2000: DaimlerChrysler announces that Chrysler PT Cruiser, a small car-van combination, would go on sale in the spring.

Jan. 26, 2000: Eaton says he will retire in March.

March 27, 2000: DaimlerChrysler agrees to buy a 34 percent controlling interest in Mitsubishi Motors (other-otc: MMTOF.PK - news - people ) for about $2 billion. Eaton retires at end of month, leaving Schrempp in sole control.

June 21, 2000: Holden named CEO of North American arm of DaimlerChrysler.

Oct. 26, 2000: Chrysler posts $512 million loss for third quarter.

Nov. 17, 2000: Schrempp replaces Holden with Mercedes-Benz veteran Dieter Zetsche, appoints Wolfgang Bernhard as Chrysler's COO.

Nov. 27, 2000: Kerkorian sues company and Schrempp for $9 billion, accusing them of fraud.

Nov. 28, 2000: Two other shareholder lawsuits filed, echoing Kerkorian's complaints, with more on the horizon.

Jan. 29, 2001: DaimlerChrysler announces it will cut 26,000 jobs, or about one-fifth of the work force of financially troubled Chrysler Group, over next three years. The company says it will idle six plants over the next two years.

Feb. 7, 2001: DaimlerChrysler reports an 11 percent slump in operating profits in 2000, citing heavy losses by U.S. Chrysler arm.

Sept. 1, 2001: Former Chrysler Corp. Vice Chairman Robert Lutz, known for green-lighting some of Chrysler's most distinctive vehicles during the 1990s, joins General Motors Corp. (nyse: GM - news - people ) to head its product-development operations.

March 2001: Stock falls from more than $50 per share to roughly $38 as DaimlerChrysler continues to contend with weak North American and European economies.

March 17, 2001: Iacocca tells newspaper he wants to return to the company he once helped lead, saying DaimlerChrysler Chairman Juergen Schrempp has shut him out.

July 8, 2001: DaimlerChrysler announces it will offer a seven-year/70,000-mile limited powertrain warranty on all purchased or leased vehicles.

December 2001: New management team begins overhauling DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group, which is losing millions of dollars each quarter.

2003: Despite cost-cutting measures, net income plunges 89 percent to $562 million on revenues of $171 billion.

2004: DaimlerChrysler reveals plans to reduce stake in struggling Mitsubishi Motors from 37.2 percent to 20 percent, divest its 10.4 percent stake in Hyundai Motor Co. and trim another 6,000 positions in Germany. To boost presence in China, the firm increases stake in Beijing Jeep from 43 percent to 50 percent. Profits rebound to $3.3 billion on revenues that climb 12 percent to $192 billion.

April 2004: Dissident shareholders demand Schrempp's resignation, asserting that his decision to take control of Mitsubishi four years ago was a poor one.

July 29, 2004: DaimlerChrysler second-quarter profits jump to $670 million, five times last year's same quarter profits.

Aug. 16, 2004: DaimlerChrysler announces it has sold its 10.5 percent stake in South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co., a move expected to raise more than $900 million.

April 1, 2005: DaimlerChrysler plans to restructure its money-losing Smart car maker, spending up to $1.56 billion this year, cutting 700 jobs and scrapping some models.

April 2005: Mercedes Car Group posts its first quarterly loss in more than 10 years.

June 1, 2005: Ford Motor Co. (nyse: F - news - people ) and DaimlerChrysler match GM's offer of employee pricing to all customers. The offer remains in effect through September.

July 28, 2005: Schrempp announces he is stepping down. Chrysler Group President and CEO Dieter Zetsche to replace Schrempp on Jan. 1, 2006.

August 2005: Eckhard Cordes, CEO of Mercedes Car Group, resigns. When Zetsche takes the helm of DaimlerChrysler, he also assumes responsibilities for Mercedes subsidiary.

2005: Plans made to begin production of E- and C-class sedans near Beijing.

Sept. 1, 2005: Zetsche takes over as head of Mercedes Car Group. Tom LaSorda replaces Zetsche as president and CEO of Chrysler.

September 2005: Mercedes Car Group announces elimination of 8,500 jobs.

October 2005: As part of joint venture with Hyundai and Mitsubishi, DaimlerChrysler opens manufacturing plant capable of making 420,000 engines per year.

Nov. 11, 2005: DaimlerChrysler sells its 12.4 percent stake in Mitsubishi.

2006: Up to $1 billion is slated to retool and modernize manufacturing plants in Fenton, Mo. A $400 million upgrade is made to company's Belvidere, Ill., plant to replace production of Neon with new Dodge Caliber. Based on demand, the plant may add up to 2,000 new jobs.

January 2006: Plan are announced to cut 6,000 white-collar jobs worldwide, representing 20 percent of the company's work force.

June 2006: Toledo, Ohio-based Jeep Parkway factory closed. Formerly owned by the Willys-Overland Motor Co., the facility was the longest-running auto plant in U.S.

Sept. 7, 2006: United Auto Workers union refuses to grant health care concessions to Chrysler Group, even though GM and Ford got them.

Oct. 26, 2006: Spokesman Hartmut Schick reiterates DaimlerChrysler has no plans to sell Chrysler Group.

Oct. 31: DaimlerChrysler AG announces that 9,300 Mercedes Car Group workers have taken early retirement or buyouts.

Feb. 14, 2007: Chrysler says it will cut 13,000 workers during the next three years, shedding 16 percent of its global work force in a wrenching restructuring plan. Zetsche says he wouldn't rule out a possible sale of the U.S. operation.

Feb. 23, 2007: Volkswagen AG announces it's not interested in acquiring money-losing Chrysler Group from DaimlerChrysler.

Feb. 27, 2007: Chrysler Group offers blue-collar workers at plants targeted for production cuts up to $100,000 to leave the company as part of an effort to cut 13,000 jobs.

April 4, 2007: DaimlerChrysler Chairman Dieter Zetsche says company is in talks about future of Chrysler but does not say if it will be sold.

April 5, 2007: Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. makes a $4.5 billion cash offer for Chrysler.

Sources: Associated Press research; Thomson Gale

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